Eraser.



l E. W. BENEDICT.

ERASER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY27. 1914.

Patented May 9, 1916.

EZRA W. BENEDICT, OF WALDEN, NEW YORK.

EBASER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented llllay 2, 1216..

Application filed May 27, 1914. Serial No. 841,291.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EZRA W. BENEDICT, acitizen of the United States, residing at lValden, in the county ofOrange and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Erasers, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to stationery, and more particularly to erasers,and has for an object to provide a blackboard eraser of a simple anddurable construction, which can be effectively used in cleaning chalk orcrayon from a blackboard and which can be readily and easily cleaned.

The invention contemplates, among other features, the provision of aneraser prefcrably having a plurality of opposed cleaningusurfaces orsides and whereby, when the eraser is picked up and applied to ablackboard to remove crayon therefrom, either side of the eraser willefliciently perform the work.

The invention further contemplates the provision of an eraser which canbe cheaply manufactured, consists of few and simple parts and which canbe tightly grasped in the hand when it is desired to use the same.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to theaccompanying drawings, constituting a part of this specification, inwhich similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in allthe views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the eraser as it appears when held inthe hand; Fig. 2 is an end view showing the normal position of theparts; Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view; and Fig. 4 is avertical transverse sectional view.

Although I am aware that erasers have been used heretofore which consistof alternate strips of resilient material and stiffening members, I aimto provide an eraser in which the strips of material are cut, formed andarranged to cooperate when subjected to pressure or compression wherebythe cleaning qualities of the eraser will be improved and whereby theremoval of crayon dust from the eraser after the same has been used canbe more readily accomplished.

Referring more particularly to the views, I disclose an eraser 10 formedof a series of strips or layers 11 preferably of felt and smaller strips12 preferably of felt, but 0ptionally of Wood or other suitablematerial, the strips 11 being preferably three in number, with one ofthe said strips constituting the middle strip and having the smallerstrips 12 on both faces thereof, with the remaining larger stripsconstituting the outer strips and abutting against the outer faces ofthe smaller strips. The strips 11 and'12 are secured together by meansof any suitable adhesive such as glue or by a thread or other suitablemeans and when arranged so that the larger and smaller strips will bealternately connected there will be provided a plurality of interspaces13 on both sides of the edges of the intermediate strip. Theintermediate larger strip 11 may or may not have a rectangular opening1% in which is placed a solid stiffening member 15, preferably of wood,the said stiffening member being smaller than the smaller strips 12 andhaving the inner faces of the smaller strips abutting against the sameand covering the faces of the stiffening member. Now it will be apparentthat when the strips 11 and 12 are secured together alternately by meansof a glue or otherwise, with the stiffening member, when used, carriedby and lying within the intermediate larger strip, the interspaces 13will be bounded by the edges of the smaller strips 12, and the strips 11and 12 will normally lie in parallel relation. Now when the eraser isgripped in the hand as shown in Fig. 1, the pressure applied to theopposed edges of the outer strips on the same side of the eraser willcause the resilient felt from which the strips are formed to compressalong the edges of the same side of the eraser, thus causing theinterspaces on the opposed side to open on account of the pressureexerted on the first mentioned side of the eraser. This will result inthe interspaces being made sufliciently large to permit of readilycleaning the crayon from the same and the idea of having the edges ofadjacent larger strips spaced a greater distance apart when the opposededges of the said flaps are gripped and compressed by the hand willfacilitate the use of the eraser for the purpose of removing crayon fromthe blackboard.

It will be apparent by referring to the views that the completed eraserprovides two distinct surfaces for cleaning the blackboard and whichsurfaces are formed by the longi tudinal edges of the strips 11. Incompressing the edges of the outer strips, on the same side of theeraser, the said compression will result in a compression of the edgesof the smaller strips, when of resilient material, on the said side ofthe eraser, thus causing the opposite edges ofthe smaller strips toincrease in width and further causing the opposite edges of the outerstrips to be spaced a greater distance apart from the intermediate edgeof the intermediate strip and thereby increasing the interspaces 13.When the pressure upon the eraser is released the resiliency of the feltwill cause the various strips to return to their normal position so thatthe interspaces 011 both sides of the eraser will be of substantiallythe same size. The smaller strips 12 are all of substantially the samelength as the larger strips, but the stifiening member 15 is preferablyreduced. in length with respect to the strips in order that when thestrips are relatively connected as mentioned they will fit flush attheir ends and present a neat and effective appearance.

From the foregoing description it will thus be apparent that my eraserprovides an article in which either of the longitudinal sides can beused for erasing purposes and wherein when one side of the eraser isgripped the other side will be substantially increased in area and whichincreased side is the one that will be applied to the blackboard so thatthe particles of crayon removed by the eraser will be received in theinterspaces and can be conveniently removed therefrom by applying awhisk broom to the used side of the eraser when pressure has beenapplied to the opposite side in order to increase the interspacessufiiciently to permit the whisk broom or other cleaning member to beinserted in the interspaces and remove the collected crayon dusttherefrom.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, an eraser comprising an intermediatestrip, a stiffening member carried by the intermediate strip, smallerlongitudinally extending strips secured to and lying on both sides ofthe intermediate strip, and outer longitudinally extending stripssupported on the outer faces of the smaller strips to form interspacesbetween the outer strips and the intermediate strip, similar edges ofthe outer strips being adapted to be compressed to compress similaredges of the smaller strips on the same side as the compressed edges ofthe outer strips to enlarge the interspaces between the opposite edgesof the outer strips.

2. An eraser comprising a series of strips ofresilient material, one ofwhich is provided with a longitudinal opening, and a stiffening memberlying wholly within the opening.

3. An eraser comprising a central strip of resilient material providedwith an opening, outer longitudinally extending strips of resilientmaterial, intermediate longitudinally extending strips of material,smaller in width than the outer strips and interposed between thecentral and outer strips, and a stiffening member lying wholly withinthe opening in the central strip and coveredby the intermediate strips.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EZRA W. BENEDICT. lVitnesses: R. C. BROWNELL, G. S. MILLSPAUGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissionerot Patents.

Washington, D. C. I

